COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US)

Sometimes I wonder if we are reading the same quotes...

He says nothing about N95 specifically (just the overall practice of wearing a mask)...

He says...

"There's no reason to be walking around with a mask," infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told 60 Minutes.

"While masks may block some droplets", Fauci said, "they do not provide the level of protection people think they do". Wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences: "People who wear masks tend to touch their face more often to adjust them, which can spread germs from their hands."

He is quite literally saying... Don't wear a mask... It may make things worse.... (This was in April)

He does go on later to say that...

But there is another risk to healthy people buying disposable masks as a precaution. The price of face masks is surging, and Prestige Ameritech, the nation's largest surgical mask manufacturer, is now struggling to keep up with the increased demand.

"It could lead to a shortage of masks for the people who really need it," Fauci said.

Added - For healthy people, both the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend they wear masks only when taking care of those who are sick or suspected of having the virus.




If what we are hearing today (everyone needs to wear a mask in public at all times) ... isn't a complete 180 from what we were told in April... I need to study geometry again. LOL

I think my earlier answer addressed what you're discussing.

In addition to what I said in that post, I see it more as him prioritizing who needs to be in a mask. His point was that healthy people wearing them wrong, or handling masks wrong, could more likely get themselves infected, by having a stronger sense of security than they would. One protection doesn't eliminate the needs to be cautious in other areas. i.e. hand washing still needs to be a major thing.

I think the "suspected to have covid" is the trickier part, since people can spread it without showing symptoms. So, everyone is possibly suspected. That's why you see a bigger push for masks in shared spaces. Less for personal protection, more for community protection.

And again, I believe more data on the aerolizing of the virus has come out pushing this further.